BHP sat tight as other companies moaned

BHP Billiton
told US embassy officials in 2009 its Olympic Dam expansion was on hold because of a slowing commodity market.

In a cable in July BHP played down any immediate move to develop the project although it was publicly maintaining enthusiasm for the expansion. In November 2009, BHP chief executive
Marius Kloppers
is reported telling embassy staff the project would progress “commensurate with rising world demand".

A cable from early 2009 details how senior executives from
OZ Minerals
,
National Australia Bank
and
Telstra
used a lunch in Melbourne to raise concerns that stimulus packages were being used to justify protectionist policies. OZ Minerals chief executive
Andrew Michelmore
complained about European tariff barriers and said bilateral trade agreements could cause “more harm than good". He said US agreements with the European Union on steel and beef had caused “collateral damage" in Australia.

Mr Michelmore also “bluntly" asked why America had influenced [Australia] to block a a deal between his company and Chinese state-owned Minmetals, saying it represented “paranoia". The US officials said there had been no embassy representations on the deal.

Telstra executive
David Moffatt
was concerned about the possibility of American protectionism.